A team of deputies hit the streets last night in an attempt to interview Superior Court judges' assistants in their homes.

"It was pure intimidation," one judge who asked to remain anonymous tells New Times.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas at a recent news conference.

​Judicial assistants are hired and fired by the judges, and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was counting on their loyalty to their bosses to deliver his message of fear, the judge surmises.

"The first thing they (JA's) would do is pick up the phone and call their boss," the judge says, adding that's what Arpaio wanted.

Before the deputies could get started with their questions, this judge's JA asked the deputies to make an appointment to talk at the courthouse.

The deputies asked some of the assistants if they thought anything wassuspicious about the planned construction of a new court building. Butthe Arpaio's people obviously knew that getting anything would be a long shot.

Don't you wonder how many criminals went uncaught last night because deputies were fooling around on this political mission?

Sure, the deputies may have hoped someone would spill their guts aboutthe evil conspiracy alleged in the federal racketeering lawsuit launched last week by Thomas and Arpaio.

The deputies tried the same tactic over the weekend, visiting the homes of 11 county employees. As an evidence-gathering technique, this seems like a random act of desperation -- an outside hope that convincing evidence of a crime could be found in this court-tower investigation.

That is, something that might make the public believe the investigation islegit.

But it does seem that the deputies' primary mission is intimidation.

The judge we chatted with this morning wasn't intimidated. "I'm angry as hell!" the judge says.

UPDATE: Here are the names of the judges whose assistants were contacted by deputies last night, provided to us by a trusty source. Deputies also attempted to contact more court employees besides the JAs:

Deputies tried to contact the judicial assistants of the following judges: